


Slow dancing in the dark

by WallflowerBouquet



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Langa plays the guitar, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sleepy Cuddles, reki sings, repressed homosexuality, they are in love, this is just really pure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 22:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallflowerBouquet/pseuds/WallflowerBouquet
Summary: Langa confesses to Reki three am their last high school night. Reki doesn’t believe him.“Reki I think I’m in love.”“Fucking simp, who is it?”“It’s you.”
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa & Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 12
Kudos: 333





	Slow dancing in the dark

It was one of those nights. The stars and moon shone on a deep blue sky, muted by the light pollution from the city. Reki’s skin glowed as if he was one of the stars in the moonlight. 

Both Reki and Langa’s windows were wide open, curtains flowing in the wind. During the year, both of them had become a little careless, anxiety from the upcoming exam results combining with the stress that was knowing that they would graduate and move on to university. Like their peers, they had realized that adulthood and its responsibilities were inevitable, and now closer than what they were prepared for. Being fully aware of their limited time left as innocent kids was like a key of sorts, unlocking all of their hidden desires. They only had one summer left to waste.

A dry sheen of sweat from the early summer heatwave pinched Langa’s skin. He sat criss-cross on his desk, pushed up against his window for occasions like these, with his guitar in his lap. Facing him was Reki, ever so enchanting. His legs dangled from his windowsill, the breeze tousling his hair. He looked stunning that night. 

They had gone from having a rap battle that Langa won, not because of his witty insults but because Reki couldn’t rap, to Langa strumming on his guitar to accompany Reki’s lonely voice.

Reki’s eyes were shut softly as he sung, long eyelashes flush against his tan cheeks. Maybe there was something weird in the summer scented air, but Langa could swear he knew no sound prettier than Reki’s voice, and he listened to it in pure bliss, hung up on every syllable he sung. 

With the song coming to an end, Reki’s voice faded into the nothingness of the night around them and Langa stopped playing. They were in perfect harmony, even in the silence. Langa’s heart pounded crazy fast, contrary to how slow the world around him was moving. 

Langa was staring at him when Reki snapped his eyes open. Langa’s gaze did not falter, but Reki’s heart did, skipping a beat.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Reki stuttered, scared to meet Langa’s eyes. It’d always been like that, Langa being able to map out every slope and crevice of Reki’s features, and Reki barely brave enough to know the color of Langa’s eyes. Only when Langa didn’t notice could he just sit and gawk at him for hours on end, in maths or science, or when Langa fell asleep in his lap. 

“Like what?” The look on Langa’s face was one of pure admiration, and even if it was clear to see, Reki didn’t want to. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Langa was so good that falling in love had been inevitable. Langa would ruffle and mess up Reki’s hair but was always equally ready to brush his tears away. Even when Langa tried to be rough, he remained gentle. The idea that Langa could be his was a dream, way too distant and intangible in Reki’s mind. There was no way Langa liked him back.

He huffed and crossed his arms, accomplishing nothing but to make Langa fawn. “Go to sleep already, you idiot. You’ll be tired tomorrow.”

Langa complied and slid off his desk. Sucking in a deep breath, he snuck across the room. He had to be careful not to wake his mom. “Tomorrow is the last day of school anyway, why does it matter if we sleep or not?” He asked.

Reki rolled his eyes, as if the answer was completely obvious. “If you show up looking like a goth raccoon you’ll make both of us look bad.” 

Taking a less elegant approach to hopping inside again, Reki slung his legs over the windowsill and tripped himself in the process. He landed on his rug with a loud thud and a choked snort from Langa.

A mumbled, accidental, “adorable,” slipped from Langa, and Reki shot up from the floor in surprise. Langa wanted to log out from existence and delete his account. 

They made eye contact, staring at each other, even if Reki looked more plotting than sleepy. An eery silence engulfed them for what must’ve been the first time since they met. Reki shifted and cleared his throat, trying to come up with something to fill the suddenly awkward silence.

“Goodnight, Dipshit,” Reki said, flipping his bangs out of his face. His voice was barely above a whisper, but audible enough for Langa to hear. If he’d said it louder, Langa would’ve heard the reluctance. They both felt out of place, as if something was missing. There were more words to say, their time was dire and their fates uncertain. This isn’t how it ends, not tonight. 

Langa replied with a weak “Goodnight, Reki.” They made an unspoken deal not to talk about whatever stupid feelings they had. Maybe it was for the better.

Langa fell back onto his bed. He tried to clear his mind but to no avail, staring at his ceiling was no help. A familiar feeling swelled in his chest and filled him up to the brim with confusion. He had felt it coming. It had been building up as the days went by, and now it reached its peak. 

Alone in the silence, his mother’s words echoed in his head. “You like this person, don’t you?”. What had been hiding in fear of rejection came out, and Langa had an epiphany.

Langa liked a boy. That boy was Reki. Langa liked Reki. Of course he did.

The realization hurt. It was as close to an emotional sucker punch as it gets. He liked his amazing, idiot best friend and his best friend was a boy and Langa was also a boy and despite all those cold hard facts he still wanted to hear his pretty voice and call him adorable and maybe have Reki call him stupid again because it was honestly more cute than upsetting. It was scary, even if the sweet feelings of adoration were still there. He had so much to loose, so much that could go wrong if he confessed, but for Reki it seemed worth it. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. It was his last school night ever, and he wasn’t going to let it slip between his fingers.

With his heart in his throat Langa threw his window open. He knocked on Reki’s window. Hard. Maybe too hard. He didn’t care. Breaking his window would just be a bonus. Ok, maybe not, not if Reki got hurt.

There was grumbling from inside as the window opened. In the window stood Reki, tousled by sleep and squinting back at him. They were still on the same wavelength.

“What the hell do you want?” Reki asked, voice wrecked from exhaustion.

“Reki, I think I’m in love,” came Langa’s determined voice. Why was he doing this again?

Suddenly, Reki seemed interested, eyes wide and lips curled into a sly smirk. “Fucking simp. Who is it?” His fingers drummed against his windowsill, one of his habits.

Langa crossed his arms and Reki oogled them, shameless. “You know what? I’m not gonna tell you.” He still felt reluctant. The words got stuck in his throat. 

Reki immediately sunk to his knees behind his window, hands raised above his head in a theatrical pleading motion. “No, no, no I was totally kidding what do you mean? I’ll even set you up with her and everything, I know most people at school don’t even worry about it, please just tell me,” he whined.

“Alright, I’ll tell you, get up.” 

Reki shot up into a silly victory dance and Langa watched, half bitter half sweet. 

“Wait!” Reki stopped dancing to point an accusing finger at Langa. “I know who it is!” 

A lump formed in Langa’s throat. “You—you do?” 

“Of course, you’re way obvious.” 

“Listen, Reki, I—“

“It’s Izumi right?” Langa let out a sigh of relief “,The girl you did that chemistry project with?”

“It’s not Izumi, I don’t even remember who that is.” 

“Shit uhm—” Reki rubbed his chin in contemplation before his eyes lit up again. “Right! Wait then is it Hikari? You know her, with the voice?” 

“Nope.”

Reki looked completely dumbfounded. “Then who—“ 

“It’s you.” Words spilled out of his mouth before Langa could so much as think them over. His hand shot up to his mouth. He could barely believe himself.

Reki’s heart almost stopped beating. He blinked once, twice, three times, eyes fixating on Langa’s petrified face, letting his words sink in. 

“No you’re not.” Reki furrowed his eyebrows, gears grinding in his head. Every part of Langa, from his wide, then rigid shoulders to his glassy, unblinking blue eyes were pointing at it. Langa hadn’t lied.

“Wait, like, for real?”

“Yeah.” 

There’s a moment of nothingness, the only sounds mingling with the radio silence being their heartbeats and the distant buzz of the city. Langa was so on edge, he felt himself fade into the background. 

Reki stumbled backwards, and Langa’s attention was irked away from himself. “No, no, what the fuck?” A glint of something new appeared over his eyes. It was barely visible in the dark, but his eyes seemed— glossy? Was he—

“Wait, are you crying?” 

“No I’m not!” Reki croaked, sniffling as he pawed at his wet cheeks with the sleeves of his hoodie. Or well, Langa’s hoodie that he had ‘borrowed’ and never returned. He stepped away from his window, as if it was going to obscure him completely, but of course Langa could still see him, and he was nothing short of staring. “I just got something in my eye.”

Langa snorted. “That’s cringe.”

Reki swung his fist as close to Langa as he could from his window, almost falling out of it in the process. “Shut up! I guess I— sorta love you back.” Reki sniffled through a smile. It was small but giddy, breaking his frown, and Langa couldn’t help but grin right back at him, wide and shameless, one that reached his eyes.

“Can I come over?”

“You know you can, idiot.” 

As if their fate was already decided, Reki brought out their designated escape plank and slid it from his windowsill to Langa’s. 

With a screech from Langa’s window and a worrying creak from the plank, Langa was in motion. Their houses sold for cheaper than average, built too close together, but of course that was only a perk now that Langa could, albeit unsafely, pass through with a little bit of amateur parkour. The plank had never broken during its many years of usage, and was still going strong to this day. Sort of. Wishful thinking and glue works like magic. 

Langa shimmied his way over the plank, as gracefully as a lanky high schooler could shimmy. Reki cheered whenever the plank seemed like it was about to do a full 180 and execute Langa with a straight six meter fall into Reki’s mom’s rose bushes. No matter how in love they were, Reki was always going to remain Reki, finding happiness in his misery. 

It went smooth all the way, until he was about three quarters over the plank. Another creak, now louder. It cracked. And, in time with Reki’s breath hitching in anticipation, it snapped.

Langa yelped. Pieces of wood fell to the ground, into Mrs Kyan’s beloved bushes. Reki grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him in, and so Langa launched off from the plank and into Reki’s room through the window. The only problem was that Reki was still standing in that window.

Head first, he toppled Reki over, landing them on the grey rug with a bang, their alarmed yelps mixed together. Langa had his large palms on either side of Reki’s head, like a frame around his surprised face. Reki’s looked so pretty in the moonlight, pink lips parted and cheeks slightly puffy from his nap. Langa caught himself staring, but who was he to look away? Maybe it was ok to look at Reki like this now, now that he knew that he wasn’t imagining things when Reki stared back. 

“Fucking ow! You’re squishing me to death!” Reki squirmed under him. Langa was quick go roll away onto his side, resting on his forearm.

“You’re hurt?” He asked, staring at Reki who was rubbing the back of his head, glaring at Langa. 

Reki put on his best shocked expression. “Oh-em-gee, Sherlock, is that really you? I’m a big fan but, I hadn’t imagined you as Asian before I mean, I hadn’t imagined you as my boyfriend either so I guess we are in for lots of surprises today—“

“I’m your boyfriend?” Langa asked, heart in his throat yet again. Reki had called him his boyfriend. 

Reki stopped in his tracks, hand freezing at his head before sinking to his lap, slow and shaking. “Uh- I’m sorry I didn’t mean to—“ He stuttered, he was so nervous and it broke Langa’s heart to watch it.

“We hit sixteen a year ago, I thought we were already married, how dare you!” He exclaimed, mimicking Reki’s usual drama. He placed a hand over his oh so wounded heart, before lending Reki his help up off the floor.

Reki didn’t say anything back. All he could do was smile, smile until his cheeks hurt because what Langa was saying was true. He could almost recall it in perfect detail. 

Halloween in elementary school when they were trick-or-treating and their sweet neighbor Mrs. Utsumi had gifted them a candy pop ring. Langa proposed with it, and they promised each other that if they didn’t have any girlfriends at the age of sixteen, they’d marry each other instead. Their concept of age and appropriate time to get married at wasn’t all that perfect when they were seven, but now they were seventeen and still completely infatuated.

Bright as the moon and glowing with mirth, Reki looked beautiful in the low light. It brought a sort of mystique to his familiar features, one Langa wasn’t used to seeing. His lips curved upwards into a lovely little smile, and the urge to touch them was far too strong to resist, and so Langa gave in. With his nerves on end, his thumb brushed ever so gently over the wet plush of Reki’s bottom lip, tracing the curve and coming to rest in the corner. 

Reki let out a shaky breath, cold on Langa’s skin. His eyes were glued to Langa’s hand. “I’ll bite you,” came his shaky resolve, but it held no venom. 

“You would’ve done it a long time ago if you really wanted to,” He whispered, and so Langa sunk down to meet Reki’s mouth. 

Softly, like ocean waves in good weather, they moved against each other. Nimble fingers intertwined with sky blue strands at Langa’s neck, the fabric of his shirt brushing against him. He stroked the skin of Reki’s jaw as it bloomed, red like poppies and hotter than the sun.

Reki shivered. He felt a surge of helplessness, a force fueling his excitedly beating heart further. He was finally alive. 

They had switched, as to spare Langa’s a crooked spine, and now Reki had to stand on his tippy toes to reach up. it was surprising how natural it felt. This wasn’t like kissing a girlfriend he was half interested in or making out with random people at parties. This was Langa. Aloof, clueless Langa with his long hair and cold hands, who didn’t feel like cardboard or mush. He was where he belonged, and closer than he’d ever been to his best friend.

And so they stood, kissing in the dark, barely navigating each other. It was like slow dancing, the way Langa’s arms snaked around Reki’s waist and made him sway. Their tired legs moved towards the bed, too weak to stand anymore. 

“You were right,” Langa said, hand stroking Reki’s hair as he laid right next to him. 

Reki giggled. “Of course, I’m always right.” He boasted, before his face fell flat in confusion. “Wait, about what?”

“I’m gonna be so tired tomorrow. Or today, I guess.” Langa murmured.

“Yeah. And you’re gonna look like a goth raccoon.”

Langa smiled lazily and closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to sleep, he just wanted to rest them a little. Just rest. “And make you look bad?”

“No. You’re too handsome to make me look bad.”

“You know I can hear how fast your heart is beating, right?” He asked, and grabbed Langa’s hand from where it rested atop his head. Reki placed it over his heart. 

Langa opened his left eye and quirked an eyebrow. Under his fingers he felt the rapid, rhythmic beat, thunking even faster than his own.

“I feel like my heart is going to implode.”

More self assured this time, Langa sunk down to kiss Reki yet again. 

Their breaths mingled. The softness of Reki’s sweater, and the firm trace of his hip underneath it was all that Langa could feel. Together, silent into infinity. 

It couldn’t last too long, because spilling into their room was something bright. Something gleaming. Reki turned away to see the night sky long gone. The thousand colored light of dawn, and a red sun peaking from behind power lines lit up the room, and most important— Reki. Langa had seen so much in his best friend’s eyes this night, fear and love, and unblinking anticipation. But this Reki was serene, completely calm like the world around him. 

The alarm clock on Reki’s bedside table read four am. Their final day of high school had come so soon. The night had made them invincible. It made them forget. About everything. The future, friends, school, grades, midterms, university, parents, jobs, money, surviving after their final summer as irresponsible teens had passed. All of it had faded away into bleak nothingness. 

Langa felt it all slip from him, eyelids heavy and breaths deep. He stole one last glance at Reki, who’d already fallen asleep in his arms. “I love you,” we’re his last words before he too closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been writing this for so long y’all gay bitches better appreciate it. Thank u for reading and btw imma be posting more fics in the future so look out for that too besties. Love u muah.


End file.
